Thunder – March 26, 1998

Date:
March 26, 1998

Location:
Patriot Center, Fairfax, Virginia

Commentators:
Lee Marshall, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

We’re
getting closer to Spring Stampede and most of the card is pretty
clear. That being said, the picture we’re getting isn’t all that
pretty. The bat match announced on Monday is nothing special and
it’s going to overshadow Sting vs. Savage which has the potential to
be decent. The interesting question for tonight is will we get any
followup on Goldberg’s attack on the NWO last week. Let’s get to it.

Here
are Eddie Guerrero and Chavo Guerrero Jr. to open the show. Chavo
has to scratch Eddie’s back on the way to the ring. Eddie says Chavo
has a TV Title shot tonight, but he hasn’t proven himself yet.
Therefore, Eddie will be taking the title shot and Chavo gets this
match.

Benoit
immediately chops Chavo down to start and stomps him into the corner.
We cut up the commentary desk where Rick Rude and Eric Bischoff take
over. Now we go back to the ring with Chavo still chopping away.
Some backbreakers put Chavo down as Bischoff compares WCW to Kenneth
Starr, because wrestling fans want to hear about current political
events when they watch wrestling. Chavo comes back with some shots
to the ribs and a dropkick gets no cover. Benoit comes back with a
knee to Chavo’s ribs and drapes Chavo over the top rope. Chavo
sunsets flips him for two but walks into the Crossface for the
submission.

Rating:
D+. This didn’t have time to go
anywhere but Benoit’s yo-yo push continues. He goes from a US Title
shot to jobbing to Norton to drawing with Booker T to being a bishop
(he’s too good to be a pawn) in the Guerrero feud. It’s almost like
WCW isn’t paying attention to what they do with him and just throw
him out there at random.

Here
are Hogan and Bischoff in the ring. Bischoff complains about WCW
having people like Piper out here to cause trouble and says it’s easy
to understand why Hogan has so many disciples. Hogan insists that
there are no rifts in the NWO despite any footage WCW may show. He
and Nash are best friends for life and WCW is just putting them in
matches in hopes that they’ll argue. They’ll win at the PPV, just
like they did on Monday.

This
brings out Nash who says that he knows someone is pulling the NWO’s
strings but no one pulls his. Hogan may claim to lead the NWO but
everyone knows the heart and soul of the NWO is the Wolfpack. If
Hogan is in charge, why is Syxx out of a job and why is Hall never on
live TV? Hogan says Syxx couldn’t cut the mustard but doesn’t know
where Hall is. Hogan: “I thought you knew.” Hollywood blames
Savage for the problems and says they can deal with them at the PPV.
He would partner with Nash anytime but Nash says it would be his
honor brother, which confuses Eric and Hogan.

No
entrance for either guy for the sake of time. La Parka does his
dance to start before charging into a boot in the corner. A
spinwheel kick staggers Iaukea but he sends La Parka to the floor for
a flip dive off the apron. Back in and an elbow to the face gets two
on the Prince but he grabs a northern lights suplex for a pn on La
Parka out of nowhere. This was nothing.

Here’s
Lex Luger to say that he and Sting will accept Hogan and Nash’s open
challenge for a tag match tonight. I didn’t exactly hear an open
challenge but whatever gets us to tonight’s run-in palooza is fine.

The
crowd LOUDLY tells Jericho that he sucks on the way to the ring.
They trade headlocks to start until Disco takes him down with a
clothesline. Disco stomps him down in the corner and hits a middle
rope fist to the head for two. Jericho takes him down and kicks
Disco in the ribs before getting two off a suplex. Disco runs into a
boot in the corner but comes back with an atomic drop and a
neckbreaker for two each. That’s it for Disco though as he gets
caught in a butterfly backbreaker and the Liontamer retains the
title. Short and not much to this one.

Jericho
takes Disco’s headband for the trophy case.

Tony
does the ads for future shows and actually uses the term house shows.
Goldberg asked for this match after Flynn gave him a test. Flynn
fires off his kicks and takes Goldberg to the mat, only to be caught
in a leg bar. A powerslam puts Jerry down but he grabs an armbar.
Goldberg will have none of that and powerbombs him down before
breaking out of a choke. They trade a few more holds and Flynn
actually scores with some kicks. I don’t even get done typing that
line before the spear and Jackhammer make Goldie 62-0.

Psychosis
is now a face apparently. This is a revenge match as Lodi was
injured in his match on Monday so Kidman is out to hurt Psychosis in
turn. Kidman jumps him from behind and sends Psychosis into the
ropes for a very slow motion Tajiri handspring elbow minus the
handspring or the elbow. Instead he rolled and hit the middle rope
and didn’t do any elbowing but it’s the best I’ve got. Psychosis
goes up top but gets shoved to the floor for a big dive from Kidman.

Back
in and Kidman gets two off a sitout spinebuster before putting on a
chinlock with a knee in the back. Psychosis counters a powerbomb and
gets two off a clothesline but charges into an elbow in the corner.
Kidman is dropkicked into the ropes and Psychosis gets two off the
guillotine legdrop with Kidman still in the ropes. Psychosis gets
crotched on the top and superplexed down for no cover. Instead
here’s Sick Boy to miss a springboard dropkick and hit Kidman by
mistake, allowing Psychosis to hit the full guillotine legdrop for
the pin.

Rating:
C-. Psychosis getting a little
push is nice to see, but he was sloppy here. That’s odd to see as he
was usually one of the better fliers in the company. Kidman was
getting better every time he was out there but he still had a way to
go. Also it’s nice to see some continuing stories in the lower card
which is usually one random match after another. Decent stuff here
too.

Here’s
DDP to say he doesn’t want WCW’s help in getting the US Title back.
He talks about being trained by Jake Roberts and is sick of Raven’s
whining. Page is going to bang him soon.

It’s
a brawl to start as Rude takes over on commentary from Marshall. We
start with Smith vs. Adams as Davey ducks a big boot and trips Adams
down for two. Off to Neidhart for some lame arm work and a slam
before Hennig comes in with some shots to the back. A big shoulder
runs Hennig over and it’s back to Davey who has to chase Hennig
around the ring, allowing Bryan to get in a cheap shot.

Adams
comes in legally and gets in some shots but Bulldog easily tags
Neidhart back in. This is really dull so far. Neidhart is sent into
the NWO corner and pounded down before walking into an Adams
piledriver for two. A double clothesline gets two on Jim but he gets
to his corner for the tag to Bulldog who cleans part of a house.
Everything breaks down and they all go to the floor, brawling until
the match juts ends in I think a double DQ.

Rating:
D-. I know I said Benoit seemed
to have no direction but it’s even truer with Bulldog and Smith.
They’ve been thrown out there and are kind of fighting on Bret’s
behalf against Hennig but they can’t be associated with him, meaning
they can’t talk about him. The matches are really dull too, making
these segments low points for the shows.

The
war continues as Page still doesn’t have the belt itself. Saturn
jumps Page as he comes in but gets caught in a sunset flip for two.
A rollup gets the same for the champion but he walks into a t-bone
suplex for two. Saturn hooks an abdominal stretch to work on Page’s
bad ribs but Page quickly hip tosses out of it.

Now
Page puts on an abdominal stretch of his own but Saturn counters into
a northern lights suplex for two. We hit the chinlock as the
announcers talk about the NWO. Page fights up and hits a quick belly
to belly for two. Saturn hits a quick jawbreaker but gets crotched
on top. Cue Raven with the belt on the stage so Page catches a
diving Saturn in the Diamond Cutter and goes after Raven for the
countout.

Rating:
C+. The match didn’t last long
but the Diamond Cutter at the end looked great. Saturn is very well
rounded in the ring and there was a nice story going on with him
being able to counter everything Page had but DDP having one big move
to knock Saturn out. The lack of time hurt this one badly.

Before
the bell, Booker asks Chavo why he’s giving up a title shot so
easily. Eddie answers for his nephew and says this is family
business. Booker says he’ll show Chavo how to deal with a bully but
Eddie has some brass knuckles on his hand. He lays out Booker as the
bell rings but only gets two. Chavo takes the knuckles off Eddie’s
hand and throws them to him, drawing a quick DQ.

Eddie
makes Chavo hit Booker with the knuckles and the stomping begins but
Benoit comes out for the save. Tag match coming up it seems.

A
Buff distraction lets Norton get in a cheap shot for early control.
Scott shoves him into the corner but walks into a belly to belly,
allowing Rick to go after the leg. Back up and Norton no sells an
elbow to the face before taking Steiner down. He stomps away but
Rick bites his leg, only earning himself more stomping. Buff gets in
some choking of his own but gets glared down by DiBiase.

Norton
ducks his head and gets kicked in the face, allowing Rick to hit
another belly to belly. A clothesline puts Norton on the floor but
here’s Scott Steiner with a dog collar. They screw up the ending as
Norton misses a shot with the collar and Rick picks it up. He swings
but stops halfway through, allowing Norton to try a belly to back
suplex. Now the collar to the head is enough to pin Norton.

Rating:
D. Another boring match but at
least Norton lost for a change. The ending here looked terrible as
the referee was obviously looking at what was going on in addition to
the bad timing of the collar shot. This was nothing to see, which is
a running theme on tonight’s show.

Nash
is in street clothes. Hogan and Sting get things going with the
champion knocking Hollywood down with ease. Sting shoves him down
and flexes a bit so Hogan takes the bandana off. The champion blocks
a ram into the buckle and pounds away in the corner. Off to Luger
who gets caught by a thumb to the eye, allowing for the tag to Nash.
Kevin runs Luger over and it’s back to Hogan for some choking. Hogan
holds Luger for Nash but Lex avoids the big boot which hits Hogan
instead. There’s the hot tag to Sting as everything breaks down.
Nash takes the Stinger Splash but Savage runs in for the DQ.

Rating:
D. Yep it was about three
minutes long and ended in a run-in. As usual, this was all about the
NWO with the world champion and Luger just filling in spots. Sting’s
momentum is completely gone just a few months after he was the
biggest star in WCW. But hey, at least we’re getting MORE Hogan
right?

Post
match Savage goes after Sting but Hogan goes after Savage for no
apparent reason. Nash pulls Hogan off of Savage so they have a
staredown but the rest of the NWO comes in for the big brawl. Sting
and Luger manage to fight them off with relative ease and Hogan
argues with Nash to end the show.

Overall
Rating: D+. There’s some decent
wrestling in there but most of the matches were too short to mean
anything. The main event sucked and was angle advancement, which is
ok some of the time but when that’s all the main events are anymore
it’s hard to care. Somehow this was a big improvement over last
week’s show. At least there was some star power this week.

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